Techno-Economic Comparison of Lead-Acid and Lithium-Ion Battery Storage in an Off-Grid Hybrid Renewable Microgrid

Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems (HRES) hold the potential to significantly reduce the planet’s carbon footprint while meeting the increasing energy demands worldwide. The optimized integration of renewable energy resources presents several challenges related to stability and dependability. To address variable loads, one potential approach is to incorporate an energy storage device into the electrical grid. The system’s location, the electrical energy source, and related costs, as well as environmental considerations, all affect the deployment of an energy storage system within the existing power network. This research proposes a concept for an off-grid microgrid utilizing a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) along the shoreline of Ormara in the city of Gwadar, Baluchistan, Pakistan. The modelled microgrid comprises two distinct Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) - lead acid batteries and lithium-ion batteries, and separate simulations were conducted for each respective energy storage system. Subsequently, the calculations indicate that the lithium-ion battery system exhibited a Cost of Energy (COE) of ${\$}$ 0.196. In contrast, the lead-acid battery system had a COE of ${\$}$ 0.226, therefore establishing lithium-ion batteries as a superior economic option for the planned microgrid with minimal emissions.